Tuesday, August 05, 2014

Government of India all set to further relax environmental clearance norms, give more power to states

By Our Representative

The Government of India is on way to take more steps towards
“easing” hurdles on way to environmental clearance for developmental projects. Minister
of state for environment, forests and climate change Prakash Javadekar has
already said he is working for “streamlining” environmental clearance (EC)
process by delegating more powers to the State level Environment Impact
Assessment Authorities (SEIAAs). Meanwhile, officials under him are seeking to categorise
anew the type of projects to be cleared in states, adding several sectors whose
authority for environmental clearance is with the Government of India.

Reports say, Jevdekar’s recent announcement for online application
of projects for “expediting the process of environmental clearance” is only the
first step, and he said this during a written reply in the Rajya Sabha on July
31. Officials have now prepared a detailed outline amending the Environmental
Impact Assessment (EIA) Notification, 2006, which outline a new process for
granting ECs for various development projects.

The 2006 notification had categorized all projects into A and
B. Category A projects were to be appraised by the Union ministry of forests
and environment, while category B projects were cleared by SEIAAs. The proposed
amendments want such sectors like thermal power, river valley, mining and other
industrial sectors such as paper and pulp, distilleries and fertilizers to be
included in the state’s purview.

“Under the category of thermal power plant, now a new
sub-category based on fuel type, has been included. The addition involves ‘use
of municipal solid non-hazardous waste as fuel’, for which projects with more
than 20 megawatt (MW) capacity will be cleared by the Centre, and projects
between 15-20 MW will be cleared by SEIAAs. All projects with more than 15 MW
capacity using biomass fuel also have been put under the state’s command”, Down
To Earth, India’s environmental journal, reports.

“The requirement for coal tar processing units has also been
specified under the new amendment, where all such units will be appraised and
cleared by the state authority. For mineral beneficiation, the state
authorities will now be clearing projects of less than 0.5 million tonnes per
annum (MTPA) capacity, while the Central ministry will be clearing projects of
greater capacity. As per the 2006 Notification, state authorities were entitled
to clear projects below 0.1 MTPA capacity only”, the report says.

Then, there is “considerable dilution” for projects lying in
the vicinity of protected areas, notified eco-sensitive areas, critically
polluted areas and interstate boundaries of river valley projects. The report
says, “Under the EIA 2006 notification, for projects that are otherwise
category B, are to be considered as category A if located in whole or partially
within 10 km of the boundary of such areas. The latest amendment has now
the reduced the distance, making only projects located within 5 km of such
areas to be considered as category A.”

It may be noted that the Gujarat government has been for
long of view that environmental clearance issues have created unprecedented
hurdle on way to industrial development in the state. The coastal regulatory
zone (CRZ), for instance, alone had put to question the future of Rs 40,000
crore worth of projects about two years ago. In fact, Narendra Modi, before he became
Prime Minister, had sharply criticized the previous UPA government for refusing
to clear environmental projects online – he said it was a means for corruption.